Damascus Fillet Knife, 8 Inch Flexible Blade with Blue Resin Handle

The cooler is full, the light is going, and there are still fish to clean. That is the work this one was built for. The blade is 8 inches of Damascus over a high carbon core, narrow and thin, made to ride the ribs rather than tear through them. The handle is blue resin, which takes no notice of wet hands.

Specification

The blade

The Damascus is pattern welded around a high carbon core, so the layers on the flats sit either side of one steel down the middle. The etch brings up a ladder pattern the whole length and leaves the edge fine and bright. The grind is thin and taken high, and the tip lifts to a fine point for starting behind the gill plate. There is give in it, enough to bend along a rib cage and stay there, and stiff enough to put the tip where you want it. The carbon under the pattern darkens with use and spots if you leave it wet.

The handle

Blue resin is cast and cured solid, so it takes on no water and does not swell across a long session at the table. Wet hands are the reason it is here. Brass pins hold the scales to a full tang that runs unbroken to the butt, so nothing works loose after a season. The handle is 5 inches, room enough to shift your grip back on a whole side and forward onto the ricasso once you are down at the tail.

The leather sheath

The sheath is vegetable tanned leather, cut and stitched by hand, with a welted edge so the thread lies in its channel and not against the steel. The face is stamped in a basket weave, pressed into damp leather square by square, and a snap strap closes over the handle. It covers the blade and stops there, so it is what the knife lives in between trips, not a rig for your belt.

Who it suits

For the person cleaning fish by the dozen, in fading light, with hands that never get dry.

• Anglers coming in with a full cooler
• Anyone filleting with wet hands and no time to dry them
• Cooks working through walleye, snapper and other medium fish
• Someone replacing a thin factory blade that went soft

What comes in the box

• The 8 inch Damascus fillet knife
• The stamped leather sheath
• A care card
• A gift box

Every piece is different

Every blade is forged, ground and etched one at a time, so runs stay small and no two finish alike. The ladder pattern moves along the blade from piece to piece. The blue in the resin pours paler in one handle and deeper in the next. Yours will look like the photographs without being them.

Looking after it

Hand wash it as soon as the last fish is done and dry it straight away. Never the dishwasher. A light coat of food safe mineral oil before it goes back in the sheath keeps the steel settled between trips, and it matters more in salt water. Cut on wood or plastic. Sharpening is free for life, so send it back when it stops biting. More in our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade, added on this page. Around 30 characters fits, enough for a name, a boat or a date. We send a proof image before the laser runs, so nothing permanent happens until you have seen it. It adds 3 to 5 business days. Orders of ten or more are engraved free. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

What is the difference between a fillet knife and a boning knife? A fillet knife is longer, thinner and has give, made to follow the ribs of a fish. A boning knife is shorter and stiffer, for joints and bone in meat and poultry.

Does the handle get slippery when wet? Resin soaks up nothing and the brass pins sit flush, so there is nothing to swell or slick over.

Is 8 inches too much blade? It suits medium and larger fish. For panfish a shorter blade is easier to steer.

Will this steel rust? It can. Wash and dry it straight away, then oil it lightly before storage. The carbon darkens over time and spots if left wet.

Can I take it on the boat? Yes, and salt makes drying it more important. Rinse it before it goes back in the sheath.

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

If you want wood in your hand instead, the same blade comes on the Damascus fillet knife in olive wood. When there is a bird to break down instead, that stiffer job goes to the hand forged boning knife with a green resin handle. The rest sits in fillet and boning knives, with more of the same steel under Damascus steel, and gifts for him if you are buying for someone else.